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Blue Seas Add-A-Battery Installation - ISSUES!

FIRST - I'm going to thank everyone in advance for all of the help they've provided getting me this far…despite the degree I am not the sharpest when it comes to practical installation.

After installing putting together my system (See first link below) last year I found that I got a few strange issues:
- 1st: Popping in the tower speakers speakers
- 2nd: Head Unit / Whole system turning On and Off
- Head Unit/Wired remove turn On/Off but actual sound never makes it out

After going over everything, I decided to try combining the battery in the "paired" position and found that with both batteries running the issue would go away. It also would go away if I removed the battery and charged it at home.

I did everything I could (while still using the boat and not losing any of that time) to root cause and I'm thinking that I made a mistake trying to follow the Blue Seas / Forum diagram and the "House" battery isn't getting a charge.

Can you provide an electrical schematic as to how you wired the switch and ACR? next, have you measured the voltage at both batteries with and without the engine running?

When is the popping in the tower speaker occurring? Is it random or is it a turn on/off pop?

Since it's in storage I don't have the opportunity to check voltage.
Following the post I did find a troubleshooting portion of the Blue Seas site that looks like a moving forward is going to depend on the boat running. I suppose at the start of the season I can borrow a fake-a-lake to run it while measuring the voltage.

OutbackV2008,
Here is something that is often overlooked, although it is covered in the diagram. When you add a ACR/VSR in this particular scheme, it is critical that you pull every element of the factory source unit OFF of the helm buss circuit (which is connected to the house/starting bank). This includes the ground attached to the factory harness. The source B+ should access the same exact point as the amplifiers and ALL audio gear....meaning on the same stereo battery. The source ground should be upgraded and attached to the same point as the amplifiers ground....meaning the same battery. This total isolation practice keeps any voltage differential between the two batteries from attempting to reconcile via the audio interconnects of the stereo electronics, and thus introducing noise. From there, the integrity of every B+ supply and ground can be checked with a multimeter that reads DC voltage.

I think the diagram you originally tried to follow was the one I drew. I can't tell from your pictures in your install thread how you eventually connected the switch and the ACR. It would really help if we could see how you wired it or you had a schematic of what you ended up with.

It does sound like you are not getting a charge on your stereo battery. That would explain the behavior. Do you have the switch in the off position when you have the battery charger plugged in?

Also looking at the install pics I'm wondering if you wired it correctly. Did you follow my setup or the Blue Seas recommendations? In mine the heavy gauge connections are too my switch and the ACR is smaller gauge since it is just determining which battery to charge while the boat is running. When I am in storage the switch is in the off position so the batteries are disconnected and the dual bank charger can charge each battery individually.

It does sound like you are not getting a charge on your stereo battery. That would explain the behavior. Do you have the switch in the off position when you have the battery charger plugged in?

Also looking at the install pics I'm wondering if you wired it correctly. Did you follow my setup or the Blue Seas recommendations? In mine the heavy gauge connections are too my switch and the ACR is smaller gauge since it is just determining which battery to charge while the boat is running. When I am in storage the switch is in the off position so the batteries are disconnected and the dual bank charger can charge each battery individually.

My apologies - I want to clarify that I referenced your diagram I found on the forum as a back up relative to the schematic on the Blue Seas sheet because I am NOT installing a Dual Bank charger.

My install should be exactly per the Blue Seas diagram. I will put together a diagram this week to show how I did install. The one thing that I am suspect of is the grounding. From what I remember without the boat here (forgive me if it turns out this is screwed up):
- Bridged grounds on Crank/Audio battery.
- Bus bar connected from ground on Audio battery
- All audio ground circuits connected to the bus bar
- Crank Ground connected to crank battery

Question: If I had connected the original house circuit ground to the bus bar with all of the audio circuits, could this have resulted in the issue (because I think I did)?

Since the engine block is the source for all things ground, thats where both batteries and all electronics have to eventually end up. In most boats, if the original battery ground is of ample gauge, then all thats need when adding in a new house bank, is to connect the new house battery GND to the ground post of the existing battery. I think thats what you are referring to when you say "bridging grounds".

If using a BUSS bar or traditional audio distribution block, then the trunk line needs to be of adequate size, for both the amp grounds and amp B+.

With or without an on-board charger, the switch, ACR and loads can be wired the same.

Once you post a schematic, we should be able to get a clear pic of whats going on.

SORRY for the long delay - But I was finally able to get to the boat (still in storage) and make a diagram.
It will run just fine...but if I really bang the stereo the audio batter is going to die and screw up the whole day.